Brown gets national League of Women Voters appointment

With charges of “lies” increasingly common in the ongoing presidential campaign, a Juneau woman is taking a leadership role in both improving the quality of elections — and also of government.

Douglas’ carolyn V. Brown, (first name spelled correctly in lowercase) has been named a member of the national board of directors of the League of Woman Voters, following elections during the group’s 50th biennial convention last month in Washington, D.C.

League of Women Voters Alaska Secretary Hetty Barthel said the appointment to the board was a great honor for Brown, but it was also a compliment to the League of Women Voters Alaska and the local Juneau chapter, where Brown has also been a leader.

Barthel called Brown’s selection “quite an accomplishment.”

Brown has had to resign her positions with the Juneau and Alaska leagues to concentrate on her national work, Barthel said.

The national League of Women Voters works to educate voters, in part through its well-known debates, as well as improve elections. It works to register voters and encourage voting, and has opposed attacks on voting rights.

Brown was unavailable for comment late last week, and may be traveling on behalf of her new position, Barthel said.

“We are all in League together to make our community a better place; we are all in League to make our democracy safe by making it available to all; and we are all in League together in our faith in knowledge as power and education as the only way to make gains that will last,” Brown said in a statement provided by the League.

Brown is a former president of the League of Women Voters-Juneau, and has also served as its liaison to the Alaska Legislature.

Locally she was known for her work with the LVW Peratrovich Project, which promoted the film about civil rights leader Elizabeth Peratrovich called “For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska.”

The goal is to place copies of the film, along with study guides, in every middle and high school, library and university in the state, starting with Southeast Alaska.

“She came up with the idea,” Barthel said.

As a national board member, one of Brown’s duties will be to serve as liaison to several state League organizations, although Alaska will not be in her portfolio, Barthel said.